Quilting-frame for sewing-machines



(N M d l.)

0 0 e W. HUPP & R. P. MQKINLEY.

QUILTING FRAME FOR SEWING MACHINES.

NlTED S ratus Parana rricni TVILLIAM I-IUFF AND RILEY P. MOKINLEY, OF CASEYVILLE, KENTUCKY.

QUlLTlNG-FRAWIE FOR SEWING MACHENES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 599,388, dated February 22, 1898.

Application filed April 23, 1896.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM HUFF and RILEY P. MOKINLEY, citizens of the United States, residing at Caseyville, in the county of Union and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Quilting Frame, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in quilting-frames to be used either in connection with a sewing-machine or when quilting or embroidering by hand.

The object of the improvement is the provision of a device for the purpose aforesaid which can be suspended from an overhead track or line so as to be swung in all directions, so that the quilting can be easily effected to produce the required design, which will hold the goods smooth and stretched, whereby the outline can be accurately followed, and which will be simple in construction, compact in the arrangement of the parts, and capable of being easily manipulated when used in connection with a sewing-machine.

Objects and advantages other than those herein recited will appear as the nature of the invention is fully understood; and to this end reference is to be had to the following description and the accompanying drawings, in which corresponding and like parts are referred to by the same reference characters.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a quilting-frame constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention to attain the objects thereof. Fig. 2 is a detail view of the end bar, which is reduced so as to pass beneath the presser-foot of a sewing-machine.

The quilting-frame comprises end bars 1 and 2, a longitudinal bar 3, connected at its ends to the bars 1 and 2 intermediate of their extremities in a substantial manner, and rollers 4, which are suitably journaled at their extremities in the terminal portion of the end bars 1 and 2. These rollers may have any desired form in crosssection, and in order to i provide for the attachment therewith of the Serial No. 588,840. (No model.)

pressions 6 in its top side adjacent to its terminals to reduce the thickness sufficient to allow for the passage of the reduced portions beneath the presser-foot of a sewing-machine. Slots 7 are formed in the extremities of the end bar 1 to admit of the easy ingress and egress of the adjacent journals of the rollers, whereby provision is had for the displacement of the rollers when required for any de sired purpose.

Metal bands 8 are secured to the ends of the rollers and have a series of openings 9, which are adapted to receive the engaging ends of hooks 10, secured to the inner side of the end bar 1, and by this means the rollers are held against rotation in either direction. When it is required to turn a roller for the purpose of either loosening or tightening the goods, the hook 10 is disengaged from an opening 9 and the roller is turned upon its journals, and when the desired end is effected the hook is again engaged with the roller by entering one of the openings 9, thereby fixing the posi tion of the said roller. The hooks 10 also subserve another useful purpose in that they prevent the accidental displacement of the rollers from the slots 7 when the device is not in use or when the rollers are not drawn inward by the tension of the goods applied thereto.

A tension or clamp bar 11 extends parallel with the longitudinal bar 3, and its edges are beveled or rounded to admit of the goods passing by them freely. Binding-screws 12 of the thumb or butterfly type connect the terminal portions of the clamp-bar 11 with the longitudinal bar 3 and are adapted to be turned so as to vary the distance between the bars 3 and 11 according to the bulk of the goods placed between them. If it be re quired to clamp the goods lightly, so as to create a tension thereon, the binding-screws 12 are turned to attain this purpose, but if it be required to grip the goods the said binding-screws are turned so as to clamp the goods between the said bars. The clamp or tension bar holds the goods smooth, thereby enabling the quilting to be effected in less time and with greater satisfaction than if the goods were left loose or baggy, as is generally the case where they are stretched be tween the rollers of the quilting-frame.

From the foregoing description it will be observed that we have provided a simple frame for supporting the work-carrying rollers, said frame consisting of three parts only- 7;. 6., the two end rails 1 2 and the longitudinal tie-bar 3, which is arranged in the plane of and in central relation to the end bars, said tie-bar being fastened rigidly at its ends to the bars 1 2 to hold them in proper alinement with each other. This three-bar frame is designed to be suspended from an overhead support in order that the work carried by said frame may be presented in a convenient manner to a sewing-machine; and as the suspension devices are to be attached to the end bars near the corners of the frame the tiebar serves a useful purpose in holding the end bars in proper rigid relation to each other. This single continuous tie-bar 8 also serves another useful purpose in ourimproved construction because it furnishes a support for the clampbar 11, which is arranged in parallel lateral relation to the tie-bar, said clampbar being attached directly to the tie-bar independently of any connection with the end bars of the frame. This clamp or tension bar is of a length less than that of the tie-bar, so its ends terminate within the end bars of the work-carrying frame, and near said ends of the clamp or tension bar are fitted the adjusting and clamping screws 12, that find bearings in the tie-bar and in the clamp-bar. Said clamp-bar is thus supported on the tiebar of the frame in operative position to e11- gage with the work as it is stretched between the rollers 4c 5, and thus the two bars 3 11 coact in holding the work in a taut condition while stretched between the rollers. As the clamp-bar is attached directly to the tie-bar forming a part of the frame said clamp-bar partakes of the adjustment or movement of the suspended frame in its presentation with the work to the sewing-machine.

The overhead track or line 13 is preferably a cord or wire secured to a suitable support, as the opposite walls of a room or apartment, and in order to secure the requisite tension upon the track one end thereof is made fast to a spool 14, which is journaled in a V-frame 15 and is supplied with a crank 16 for turning the spool to tighten or loosen the said track, the said crank being engaged by a link 17 to hold it from turning backward after the track has been subjected to the required tension. A trolley 18 is placed upon the track 13 and a plate 19 has connection therewith by means of a swivel 20, and stays 21 connect the corners of the plate 19 with the end portions of the bars 1 and 2, the latter having hooks or headed studs 22 for engagement therewith of the lower ends of the stays v21. These stays 21 are cords or wires, and their lower end portions after making engagement with the hooks 22 have adjustable connection with the main portion of the stays, preferably by means of clamp-blocks 23, which have openings near their ends to receive the end portions of the stays and the main portion upon which the blocks slide, so as to se cure the required adjustable attachment therewith, whereby the quilting-frame can be raised or lowered to adapt it to the desired level.

Our suspension device for sustaining the frame and the work thereon in proper position to the sewing-machine is of an extremely simple character, involving the employment of a single horizontal angular plate having the suspension-stays attached to the corners thereof to draw equally from the frame toward the plate 19, which occupies a central position over the frame suspended from said plate. This single horizontal plate has a swiveled connection with the trolley consisting of a single bolt passing centrally through the plate and connected to the trolley-bracket in which the roller is mounted, as shown by Fig. 1, and this connection between the plate and the trolley insures the traveling movement of the plate, the stays, and the work carrying frame with the trolley in its movement along the overhead track or line, while at the same time the plate and the frame suspended therefrom are capable of a turning movement in a horizontal plane due to the vertical swivel-bolt connection between the suspension-plate and the trolley. Our improved suspension device also provides for the vertical adjustment of the several corners of the frame in an independent manner by reason of the adjustable connection of the stay or suspension cords to the end bars of the frame, and these suspension-stays also draw uniformly from the corners of the frame toward the corners of the angular suspensionplate. In a quilting device in which the frame has the end bars connected with radi-' ally-disposed suspension-stays attached to an overhead suspension-plate arranged in central relation to such frame provision must be made for counteracting the radial strain on the end bars due to the pull of the suspension-stays, and in ourconstruction we have met this condition by the employment of the longitudinal tie-bar occupying a central relation to the end bars and fastened rigidly thereto. Said longitudinal bar occupies a position out of the way of the work, and as the end bars or rails of the frame are rigidly and permanently joined together by the tie- -bar provision is thus made for the removal of the rollers without destroying the integrity of the frame and without unduly clamping the ends of the rollers, thus allowing thejournals of the rollers to rotate freely in the end bars 1 2.

Clasps 24 of suitable construction are applied to the end bars 1 and 2 at a point between the longitudinal bar 3 and a roller 4:,

and are designed to engage with the edges of quilted to the end bars of the quilting-frame Without injuring the said goods.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new i 1. I11 a quilting-frame, the Work-carrying frame comprising the end bars 1 2, the 1011- gitudinal, permanent tie-bar 3 rigidly fas tened at its ends to said end bars and occupying a central position to, and in the plane of, the end bars, and the rollers journaled in the end bars on opposite sides of the permanent tie-bar, combined with a tension-bar 11 arranged laterally against the permanent tiebar and having its extremities terminating Within the end bars of the frame, clampingscrews supported in the tie-bar and connected With the tension-bar to move the latter relatively to the tie-bars and make both bars coact to hold the Work under tension While stretched between the rollers, and an overhead suspension device having suspensionstays attached to the end bars near the extremities thereof, substantially as described, for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination With an overhead track or line, and a trolley adapted to travel thereon, of a single horizontal, angular plate 19, occupying a central relation to a Work-carrying frame, a vertical swivel-bolt passing loosely through the center of said plate and connected to the trolley, a work-carrying frame having its end bars joined by a central permanent tie-bar, and radial suspensionstays fastened to the corners of said single angular plate and connected adjustably to the end bars of said Work-carrying frame to draw uniformly thereon toward the single plate, substantially as described, for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own We have hereto affixed our signatures in the presence of two Witnesses.

XVILLIAM HUFF. RILEY P. MOKINLEY.

-Witnesses:

CAPITOLA NELsoN, NANCY NELSON. 

